That's right, Godspeed You! Black Emperor have moved the exclamation point from the end of their name to right smack dab in the middle. Actually, I'm rather surprised they didn't do it earlier. After all, their songs are full of false endings and dramatic mid-tune crescendos, so why shouldn't their name be? Before I get into that and the other important change they've made with their latest release, Yanqui U.X.O., a little background information is in order for those of you unfamiliar with the Montreal-based GY!BE.
The Canadian collective (they prefer "collective" over "band"), comprised of about nine members, has been releasing the most consistently interesting and moving music of the last half-decade. They've probably been doing it for eight or nine years, but no one seems to have one of the 33 copies made of their 1994 cassette release, All Lights Fucked On The Hairy Amp Drooling, so I can't say for sure. 1997's f# a# oo, their first release available on vinyl and CD, is captivating in it's apocalyptic tone. The urgency of the music is complimented perfectly by harrowing spoken word samples from street preachers, train track noises and the gritty feel of the production. There is a feeling of hope, but the darkness prevalent in the music all but drowns it out. The 28-minute, two-track Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada EP continued where f# a# oo left off, following a fairly similar outline -- if it could be said that GY!BE have ever followed anyone or anything. Their last foray into recorded music, the double-CD and double-vinyl Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven!, at the time resembled the pinnacle of what they could do. It is the definition of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, rife with samples taken from airports, radios and playgrounds. It is more akin to the audio track of some dialogue-less post-Armageddon movie than it is to an album. But with a new punctuation comes a new record, and necessarily a new definition of these nine or so musicians.
Forget all that I have said before you listen to Yanqui U.X.O. Or at least forget that this is the same collective. Gone is the sample-happy ethos that has dominated much of their previous work. In fact, gone are the samples. If they're there, then I certainly couldn't discern them from the effects used. You can thank (or curse) Steve Albini for the way the album sounds; personally I'd do the former. Over the course of these five tracks and three songs ("09-15-00" and "Motherfucker=redeemer" are both split into two tracks each), the overlying theme is not doom, but hope. These three songs are ones which GY!BE has been performing live for a while now, so it's no wonder they sound so perfect. "09-15-00" starts slowly, but you can hardly tell. You'll be surprised when the first five minutes have passed without a crescendo. That's right, I said without a crescendo. Then, of course, you have a number of crescendos, most of which are followed by those trademark false endings. But let's move on to the next song, "Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls," a renamed, redone version of one of their more favored live tracks, "Tazer Floyd." It starts off tense and sinister and just goes from there. It rocks out, simmers down, becomes more imposing than before, rocks out again and ends beautifully, recovering from the evil and finishing on a note of salvation. This song deserves to be the centerpiece of this album. Lastly, we have "Motherfucker=redeemer." As one music fan put it, the second movement of this song is "some of the best music Godspeed has ever made." Each part of the first movement replaces the last with a sense of urgency, and the second movement is gorgeously hopeful.
This feeling of hope is reflected in the packaging. f# a# oo featured a grainy photograph of clouds forming, a gathering storm. The translation of the Hebrew characters on the cover of the Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada EP is "chaos," something which GY!BE know how to convey well. The cover of Lift Yr. Skinny Fists was just that, a pair of disembodied hands reaching for the skies, as if in prayer for salvation. And now we have that salvation, three rockets falling from the sky in answer to those prayers. Or perhaps, to be a bit more optimistic, the image of a hammer engraved "HOPE," with angel-cats flying around. I'm not entirely sure about those cats, but the hammer speaks to me. It says two things: "have hope and you will prevail" and, well, quite frankly I forgot what else it said. But it must have been important, so I think I'll sit outside of Record & Tape Traders, awaiting Godspeed's next album and further instructions.
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